No, don’t worry, I haven’t accidentally sat on my keyboard. This means that the first barrel has been ceremonially smashed open (“it is tapped!”) and that we should therefore make our way down to the Theresienwiese.
Still none the wiser? Very well, since you insist, we are talking about the festivities that everyone outside Bavaria refers to as “Oktoberfest” (the locals now play along, as it’s a brand that sells tickets).
Trick question no 1 – in what month of the year does this largely occur? September.
Some history. It all began in 1810 when Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria married Princess Therese of Saxony. As part of the festivities, a horse race was held in some fields in Munich, which were then named the “Therese fields” in honour of the new Crown Princess. The traditional of the annual horse race was preserved. By 1819, this had evolved into a full-on fun-fair. So somebody set up a beer stall. Yes – it really does seem to have taken nine years before someone had the idea of serving beer to people watching a horse race.
The beer served at Oktoberfest is of a particular kind. The Germans take this kind of thing very seriously – only six breweries are permitted to sell their wares, and they are only allowed to sell to a particular standard (13.5%-13.99% original wort extract, to be precise).
Traditionally we were talking dark-coloured “Marzen” beers, brewed in March just before beer production was obliged to stop for the summer (Munich fire regulations) and brewed stronger so that they would keep. The darkness often came from caramelized malt. Traditional Marzen has now largely been supplanted by a lighter-coloured Festbier. Either way, the ABV checks in at around 6%.
I have enjoyed Oktoberfest on one occasion – by amazing chance, an invitation to speak at a conference on something very boring to do with my work fell at exactly the right time. There were a few of us from European governments there, so I suggested that our German colleague showed us the ropes. He showed us to a relatively small and quiet beer hall (“no Australians”, he announced happily), and before long we were trying to lift “Maskrug” litre glasses (they are not, actually, called “Steins”) of delicious Festbier. We enjoyed the atmosphere, sat along long trestle tables back to back with our neighbours – which was an issue for me as the young woman in traditional dress with whom I was back to back had an extremely large bottom which occupied both her bench and mine.
Oktoberfest sadly succumbed to COVID this year. I tried to get into the spirit by ordering the Oktoberfest pack from the excellent online warehouse www.beerhawk.co.uk - five different Festbiers of the same style but with subtle differences. Hofbrau, Spaten, Ayinger, ABK and Lowenbrau (yes, Lowenbrau – I was pleasantly surprised when I drank it). Plus a Maskrug of my own, for those evenings when my well-meaning daughters suggest I should limit myself to just one glass.